Paint roller and drip pan attachment therefor



May 16, 1967 J. A. FORTE 3,319,279

PAINT ROLLER AND DRIP PAN ATTACHMENT THEREFOR Filed Nov. 10, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet l m an 33l0 2 INVENTOR JAMES A. FORTE ATTORNEYS y 16, 7 J. A. FORTE 3,319,279

PAINT ROLLER AND DRIP PAN ATTACHMENT THEREFOR Filed Nov. 10, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

JAMES A. FORTE ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,319,279 PAINT ROLLER AND DRIP PAN ATTACHMENT THEREFOR James A. Forte, 2169 E. 69th St., Cleveland, Ohio 44103 Filed Nov. 10, 1964, Ser. No. 410,076 Claims. (Cl. 104.8)

This invention relates, as indicated, to a paint roller and a drip pan attachment therefor, but has reference more particularly to a combination of this character which permits the paint roller to come into close proximity with the wall of the room while utilizing the roller to paint the ceiling of the room.

In painting the ceiling of a room with a paint roller of a conventional type, it is desirable, at all times, to position the roller itself directly over the center of a drip pan, so that drippings from the roller can always fall into the pan, and not onto the floor of the room.

It is desirable, moreover, that the pan be a fairly long pan, so that if the pan is canted from a horizontal position during painting of the ceiling of the room, as becomes necessary at times during manipulation of the roller, dripping of the paint into the pan is assured, irrespective of the degree to which the drip pan is normally canted. Due to the length of the pan in such cases, however, it is difiicult to run the paint roller close to the vertical wall of the room, so that relatively large areas are left unpainted at the marginal portions of the ceiling. This results from the fact that the end of the drip pan comes into engagement with the vertical wall of the room, and thus stops the roller from further movement.

The present invention has as its primary object the provision of a paint roller and drip pan attachment of the character described, in which, when the pan comes into abutment with the vertical wall of the room, the pan will be retracted by such vertical Wall, thereby permitting the roller to more closely approach the vertical wall.

Another object of the invention is to provide a paint roller and drip pan attachment of the character described, in which, when the pressure of the drip pan against the vertical wall is relieved, the pan will be restored automatically to its normal or midposition in relation to the roller.

A further object of the invention is to provide a paint roller and drip pan attachment of the character described, in which some longitudinal adjustment of the drip pan in relation to the roller is permitted for certain purposes.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a paint roller and drip pan attachment therefor, embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the paint roller and drip pan attachment;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the paint roller and drip pan attachment,

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view, taken on the line 4--4 of FIG. 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, there is disclosed a drip pan, comprising a bottom 1, inclined side walls 2 and 3, inclined end Walls 4 and 5, and flanges 6 and 7 extending laterally from the bottom 1.

The drip pan is further provided with a lug or ear 8 depending centrally from the bottom 1, and which serves a purpose to be presently described.

The drip pan is mounted for slidable movement on a base member consisting of a bottom 9, side walls 10 and 11, and a rear wall 12 which interconnects the side walls. The base member is further provided with a pair of paral- 3,319,279 Patented May 16, 1967 'ice lel laterally-spaced tubular members 13 and 14, which extend from the rear wall 12 to the forward end of the base member, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, and which serve a purpose to be presently described.

Secured to the walls 10 and 11 of the base member is a frame or cage, consisting of circular end members 15 and 16, which are interconnected with each other by struts 17 and 18, and are provided adjacent their lower ends with guide plates 19 and 20, which serve to guide the drip pan in its sliding movement and prevent displacement of the drip pan vertically from the base member.

The device further includes a stop member 21 which is disposed forwardly of the base member and is provided with a pair of spaced guide rods 22 and 23 which extend rearwardly from the stop member and into the tubular members 13 and 14. The fit of the rods 22 and 23 in the tubular members 13 and 14 is a fairly tight frictional fit, that is to say, the rods will normally remain in the tubular members in any position to which they are moved, and cannot be displaced from such position, except by a strong pull or push of the stop member 21.

The stop member 21 is interconnected with the lug or ear 8 by means of an extension spring 25.

Secured to the frame members 15 and 16 respectively are clamp collars 26 and 27, which support a rod 28. These clamp collars are utilized for the purpose of clamping the handle 29 of a conventional paint roller 30 to the rod 28, as by means of bolts 31 and wing nuts 32.

The base member has secured to the bottom 9 thereof, an adaptor plate 33, to which a long extension handle 34 may 'be threadedly secured.

It is to be noted that the paint roller is clamped to the rod 28 at a position such that the roller 30 extends transversely of the drip pan at a position substantially above the drip pan and with its axis at approximately the midpoint of the length of the drip pan.

In the use of the device, the painter, standing on the floor of the room, will grasp the handle 34 and paint the ceiling C of the room is in a conventional manner, by merely rolling the roller 30 along the ceiling. In order that the roller 30 can be better viewed by the painter, the drip pan, which collects any drippings from the roller or ceiling, can be made of a transparent plastic material.

When the roller 30 reaches the position shown in solid lines in FIG. 1, the wall 4 of the drip pan comes into contact with the vertical wall W of the room, after which the drip pan slides rearwardly on the base member, to the position indicated in broken lines in FIG. 1, thereby permitting the roller 30 to continue its movement until it reaches the position shown in broken lines.

During the aforesaid movement of the drip pan, the spring '25 is extended, so that when the drip pan is moved away from the wall W, the contraction of the spring will cause the drip pan to return to its normal position.

It is thus seen that I have provided a drip pan attachment in which, when the pan comes into abutment with the vertical wall of the room, the pan will be retracted, thereby permitting the roller to more closely approach the vertical Wall. At the same time, the pan will always be in a position to catch drippings from the roller, even when the device is canted to a substantial degree during the painting operation. The device, in other words, permits the paint roller to paint marginal areas of the ceiling in close proximity to the vertical wall, and Without preventing the drip pan from losing its function at any time.

It is to be further noted that the construction of the device is such as to enable the device to be inverted for the purpose of placing the roller in a paint supply pan to replenish the supply of paint on the roller, and that this is accomplished without the necessity of removing the roller from the rod 28 or removing the drip pan from the device.

The frictional fit of the rods 22 and 23 in the tubular members 13 and 14 is designed to permit some adjustment of the position of the drip pan relatively to the paint roller. This is desired, for example, when it is required that the roller 30 does not touch the vertical wall W, in which case, the stop member 21 is adjusted to a position such that it will touch the wall W just as the roller 30 gets close to the wall, the stop member, in such case, preventing further movement of the roller towards the Wall.

If it is desired to use the roller 38 for painting the vertical wall W, without, at the same time, having the drip pan or stop bar 21 touch the vertical wall, both the drip pan and the stop bar can be retracted sufiiciently for this purpose and retained in a retracted position. For this purpose, the rear Wall 12 may be provided with openings aligned with the openings in the tubular members 13 and 14, so that the rods 22 and 23 can be retratced to a point at which the stop bar 21 will engage the forward edge of the bottom 9 of the base member. This will result in retraction of the drip pa n to a position in which it will not interfere with use of the roller 30 on the vertical wall W.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention, herewith shown and described, it is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes may be made in the shape, size and arrangement of parts thereof, without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In combination, a paint roller, a drip pan disposed beneath said roller, with the roller extending transversely of the drip pan, means permitting said drip pan to be moved bodily rectilinearly relatively to said roller, Whereby to permit the roller to move into close proximity to the vertical wall of a room, and means for resiliently returning said drip pan to its original position in relation to said paint roller.

2. In combination, a paint roller, a drip pan disposed beneath said roller, with the roller extending transversely of the drip pan, means permitting said drip pan to be moved relatively to said roller, whereby to permit the roller to move into close proximity with the vertical wall of a room, and means 'for resiliently returning said drip pan to its original position in relation to said paint roller, said last-named means including a stop bar spaced from said roller and an extension coil spring interconnecting said stop bar with said drip pan.

3. In combination, a handle, a base member supported on said handle, a drip pan slidable along said base memher, a frame carried by said base member, a paint roller, means for supporting said paint roller on said base frame at a position above said drip pan, a stop "bar spaced from said roller and disposed forwardly of said base member, and an extension spring interconnecting said stop bar with said drip pan for restoring said drip pan to a predetermined position after it has been moved relatively to said roller.

4. In combination, a paint roller and handle therefor, a drip pan disposed beneath said roller, with the roller extending transversely of the drip pan, means permitting said drip pan to be moved relatively to said roller in its entirety in a linear direction and in a plane substantially parallel with the axis of the handle of the paint roller, whereby to permit the roller to move into close proximity to the vertical wall of a room while the drip pan remains stationary, and means for resiliently returning said drip pan to its original position in relation to said paint roller.

5. In combination, a handle, a base member supported on said handle, a drip pan slidable linearly relatively to said base member, a paint roller supported by said base member in spaced relation to said base member and at a osition above said drip pan, means supported by said base member at a position spaced forwardly of said base member and adjustable relatively to said base member, said means disposed beneath said drip pan, and means resiliently interconnecting said first-named means and said drip pan for resiliently biasing the drip pan in a direction away from the base member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 343,389 6/1886 ONeill et al 15236 1,511,444 10/1924 Charpentier 15236 2,845,647 8/1958 Schemers 15145 FOREIGN PATENTS 582,707 9/ 1959 Canada.

CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner.

L. G. MACHLIN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN COMBINATION, A PAINT ROLLER, A DRIP PAN DISPOSED BENEATH SAID ROLLER, WITH THE ROLLER EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF THE DRIP PAN, MEANS PERMITTING SAID DRIP PAN TO BE MOVED BODILY RECTILINEARLY RELATIVELY TO SAID ROLLER, WHEREBY TO PERMIT THE ROLLR TO MOVE INTO CLOSE PROXIMITY TO 